General Excellence
Open to all companies, in any industry, that help business owners start, run, or grow their businesses.
Best Power Partner United States
Companies based in the United States that have exceptionally empowered their partners to start, run, and grow their businesses at all levels
Advertising & Marketing
Marketing companies, ad agencies, and creative firms that provide the campaigns, ideas, and/or technologies that enable independent companies to market, brand, promote, and sell products and services.
Best International Power Partner
Companies based outside the U.S. that are power partners to local businesses, or have helped companies source, distribute, sell, market, and build internationally.
Artificial Intelligence & Data
Companies developing and selling machine learning models and data analysis solutions for use by other companies.
Business Products & Services
Businesses that provide products and services exclusively to other businesses.
Cloud Computing/SaaS
Companies that deliver services through the internet, including data storage, servers, databases, networking, and software.
Communication Platforms
Companies that support SMBs with easy-to-use and scalable telecom and communications capabilities such as voice, video, and messaging to business applications.
Construction & Engineering
Companies that put up buildings, normally as contractors, or provide engineering services for their business-owner clients.
Content Management Systems
Companies that provide software as a service that allows users to create, edit, and manage content on a website without technical expertise.
Crypto & Blockchain
Companies that help other companies incorporate crypto or blockchain technology.
Customer Relationship Management
Companies that deliver software as a service that helps companies manage customer data, track customer interactions, compile business information, automate sales, and provide traditional customer service.
E-Commerce
Companies that provide software as a service and/or hardware allowing companies to receive digital payments from their customers.
Economic Development
Organizations that provide support and services to help local companies and industries grow, and promote job creation and business development and expansion in home communities.
Experiential
Companies that are responsible for producing, organizing, and executing on events, conferences, and all other in-person experiences.
Financial Services
Companies that provide banking, credit cards, fintech, accounting, payroll, and other services to small-business owners.
Health & Wellness
Companies that provide health and wellness products or services to help entrepreneurs promote a healthy and productive lifestyle for their businesses.
Human Resources
Companies that provide HR services to entrepreneurs including staffing, benefits management, recruitment management, DEI consulting, and more.
Insurance
Companies that provide some measure of protection or guarantee against financial loss.
IT Management & Systems
Companies that manage a business owner’s software or hardware or that create processes for information technology.
Legal
Companies that provide legal services, including IP, business registration, and more.
Logistics & Transportation
Companies that move products and people for businesses.
Manufacturing
Companies that make both intermediate and finished goods for sale to businesses.
Office Space
Companies that provide office design and furnishing services, building/office maintenance services, coworking spaces, and workplace equipment.
Outsourcing Solutions
Companies that aid other companies with outsourced remote workers/labor.
Privacy & Security
Companies that provide physical and cyber security products and services to other businesses.
Productivity
Companies that provide services, software, or apps to optimize efficiency in the workplace.
Project Management Software
Companies that create, sell, or deploy software for project planning, scheduling, and resource allocation.
Public Relations
Firms that create and maintain a positive public image for the individuals, groups, or organizations they represent.
Real Estate & Proptech
Real estate developers, brokers, and companies that provide real estate technology to businesses.
Software Development
Companies that create software of any kind for other businesses.
Travel & Hospitality
Travel agencies, tour operators, and other companies that help facilitate travel for other businesses.
Small and Mighty Companies (1–49 employees)
Small businesses that thrive at powering other businesses, often without the resources of their larger peers or competitors. These are the companies that have done the most with the least.
Medium-Size Companies (50–99 employees)
Mid-size companies that have started growing in size but haven’t let that growth distract from their top priority of addressing the unique needs of other businesses.
Large Companies (100–499 employees)
Large businesses that have significantly grown in size while never losing their focus on serving the best products and services to other businesses.
Enterprise (500+ employees)
Recognizes enterprise businesses that have significantly grown in size while never losing their focus of serving the best products and services to other businesses.
Eligibility
Open to companies of all sizes and types, in all industries and locations, including government-funded agencies. Public, private, non-profit, subsidiary, U.S.-based, and international companies are all encouraged to apply.
Please email our team with any questions at [email protected].
How It Works
1. Complete Your Short Application: Complete the short application here by filling in basic information about your company and selecting the categories you’d like to apply for. Extended Deadline: July 19 (Fee: $995)
2. Provide Customer References: In the application, you’ll provide Inc. with at least three, and up to ten, companies that have used your products or services over the past year. Inc. will send a survey containing four straightforward questions asking how likely your customer is to recommend your product or service. Inc. will score these results and combine them with our own research to produce a list of hundreds of winners. See our full methodology here.
Note: Past honorees may renew their Inc. Power Partner seal of approval each year by providing recent customer references who have used your products or services over the past 12 months.
3. Watch for Our Announcement of the 2024 Inc. Power Partners: The list goes live on Inc.com in late-October 2024 and will be featured in the November print issue of Inc. magazine. Whether or not you make the list, you will be notified via email in September, before it is released to the general public.
Applications will open in 2025.
For full application details see our FAQs here.
Questions? Email Inc. at [email protected].
